Portable air conditioning

[lesstatt]

Just returned from a European jaunt and saw a few people using stand alone air conditioning units in motorhomes, simply plug in and vent the hot exhaust gas out of a window. It sounds ideal but has anyone on here got experience of these at all. The ones I have seen seem to draw quite a bit of power and that could be a problem on European sites. The general power output is 10 amps and the ones I have seen seem to be about 12 and above. Are there low power usage ones around and are they any good ?

[donaircooleone]

lesstatt said:

Just returned from a European jaunt and saw a few people using stand alone air conditioning units in motorhomes, simply plug in and vent the hot exhaust gas out of a window. It sounds ideal but has anyone on here got experience of these at all. The ones I have seen seem to draw quite a bit of power and that could be a problem on European sites. The general power output is 10 amps and the ones I have seen seem to be about 12 and above. Are there low power usage ones around and are they any good ?

Roof mounted units top out at around 6 Amps (Telair units do surge to 15A~ when the first fire up where as the Dometic units do not as they have a soft-start feature) so should be ok in most campsites, on the Aires though you'd be pushing it.

[lesstatt]

Yes exactly it's the power it draws that could be a problem the stand alone ones all seem to be far too high, esp if you have a fridge lights water pump etc

[MX51ROD]

I used to cart a portable unit to use in my caravan , and yes they do have a fairly high load on the mains due to the start current , on a site with 6a outlets , unless all other electrical items are switched off when the unit is in use , the supply MCB/fuse will trip .But carefully managing your power use then a portable will keep you cool .But you have to factor the weight of the unit when loading
I kept an eye in EBay and managed to get a Dometic 2400 roof unit for around £500 (new £1600) and with its soft start control , I have been able to use sites with measly 6a supplies without problem
Where we are now , Dordogne ,with a 10a hookup , the day temp has peaked at 40c and night time mid 20s we have had the comfort of 20c inside the caravan

[lesstatt]

We were there a few weeks ago. Cahors. Sarlat. Rockamadour. Fantastic area